SEO on Magento | How to optimize your natural referencing?
Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2025 4:34 am
⏲ Reading time: 18 minutes
More than 250,000 merchants trust Magento to promote their online store . On average, the annual turnover is estimated at more than €450,000 per store that uses this CMS ! But to achieve this result, your website still needs to be visible on search engines . That's why I'm revealing all the technical SEO optimization factors you need on this e-commerce platform . To begin this guide to natural referencing on Magento 2 , here are some facts you need to know.
Magento in a few words
Magento is a US-based online store platform. Its interface is available in French and it offers 24/7 support. Founded in 2008, the company quickly conquered the e-commerce world, becoming one of the market leaders. This was further confirmed in 2018 when Adobe acquired the company for $1.68 billion. In June 2020, they permanently replaced the initial version (Magento 1) with a much more robust variant (Magento 2). Today, the platform hosts more than 250,000 e-commerce sites, with an estimated turnover of $1.5 billion.
To achieve this exceptional result, it's clear that the services provided fully meet the criteria for online sales, particularly in terms of SEO. However, many adjustments are necessary to be visible on the web and obtain excellent organic traffic. Indeed, the default settings are not all optimized for SEO. To take advantage of all the possibilities available on Magento, you will need to make certain adjustments manually and download additional plugins. This is what I will reveal to you without further ado in this guide to SEO on Magento 2.
How to set up Magento 2 in French
SEO Optimization on Magento 2: Don't Forget the Basics!
SEO is directly linked to three inseparable elements: technique, content, and popularity. Only by working on the three pillars of SEO can you position your website well on search engine results pages ( SERPs ). That's why, before describing the best SEO optimization methods for Magento, I wanted to remind you of the basics.
Technical
SEO techniques allow indexing robots to quickly crawl and understand your website. In addition, it promotes the user experience ( UX ) by speeding up and simplifying navigation. Since an online store is often complex and very extensive, it is essential not to miss these adjustments from your launch. I will therefore give you all the tips to optimize your site on Magento.
Content
Quality content is essential to satisfy your reader and help search engines understand your topic. Expand your semantic scope and focus on query intent. However, an e-commerce site generally offers a large number of similar products. And remember, duplicate content doesn't please Google! That's why I'll explain below how to avoid a penalty by specifying a canonical URL on Magento.
Popularity
Your website's reputation is the third key factor in good organic SEO. To be recognized for your true worth, you need recommendations from specialists who are themselves renowned for their quality. Therefore, work on your popularity by establishing a netlinking strategy (links pointing to your online business). Since this is an external ( off -site) SEO optimization, there are no specific requirements related to Magento.
The 3 pillars of SEO for a good natural referencing strategy
Simplify crawling and indexing
To improve your organic ranking, you need to help search engine robots quickly analyze your website. At the same time, you improve your visitors' experience and navigation, which is essential in SEO today. Magento allows you to optimize certain essential parameters to achieve this dual objective.
Canonical URL
To prevent duplicate content from being indexed, consider specifying a canonical URL for the homepage and CMS pages. By default, the auto-creation setting is not enabled on Magento. Here's how to enable it:
go to the catalog SEO settings in “store view”;
replace "no" with "yes " in canonical URL values.
With the Canonical Url plugin , you also have the ability to customize and manually set all your canonical URLs.
HTML Sitemap
An HTML sitemap is a useful tool to help your online store visitors navigate your site. It also makes it easier for search engine crawlers to find your most important pages. This allows you to highlight your key categories, subcategories, and products.
Magento 1 allowed the creation of HTML sitemaps by default. With Magento 2, this is now only possible with plugins such as SEO Toolkit or HTML Sitemap . Another method, only valid if you have the technical skills, is to create this file yourself.
XML Sitemap
This tool lets search engines know which pages to crawl and index. Generally, it should contain a maximum of 50,000 URLs and its size should not exceed 50 MB.
On Magento 2, you can optimize this document in your "catalog configurations", under the XML sitemap heading. Select the "store view" to include categories, products and CMS. Also modify the update settings so that it is done automatically. Remember to adapt the frequency according to your needs and choose a time of low traffic.
Once you've made these settings, you can generate your XML sitemap by going to your SEO & Search settings . At this point, you can also customize the name and path before creating your file. Once you've done this, I recommend adding your sitemap link to your robots.txt file to make it easier for indexing robots to work.
Robots.txt
The robots.txt file is a crucial indexing tool for SEO optimization of an online store or any large website. It allows you to authorize or prevent search engines from accessing certain URLs. It is therefore essential to generate and maintain such a document in order to protect yourself from a penalty related to duplicate content and to preserve your crawl budget . I recommend that you block access to the following pages in particular:
research ;
user account;
sid and phpssesid;
filters (price, colors, sizes, etc.).
Please note bahrain phone number data that in the basic settings of Magento 2, all of these pages are authorized for indexing ( allow ). You will therefore have to manually add the pages that you do not want to appear on the search engine results pages ( disallow ). At the same time, remember to also enter the noindex attribute on each of the pages concerned. These steps are essential for both your SEO and your brand image. Indeed, you risk not only wasting robots' time, but also transmitting low-quality information to your potential customers. Here are the steps to follow to configure your robots.txt in the administration settings:
go to Inventories > Settings > Configurations;
on the displayed page, tap “Design”;
Select “Search Engine Robots” and then edit the data.
When updating this file, be sure to respect the formatting. Otherwise, the information will not be taken into account by search engines.
Screenshot of a robots.txt file
Faceted navigation
Faceted navigation is useful for e-commerce site visitors because it makes it easier to access products. It's also important for SEO because it increases the number of optimized and indexable pages based on the filters used. I recommended that you force the non-indexing of filters for your product pages. However, this is a subset and no longer a simple sorting. If I take the example of the query "sport shoes," it would then be a search such as "brand name."
More than 250,000 merchants trust Magento to promote their online store . On average, the annual turnover is estimated at more than €450,000 per store that uses this CMS ! But to achieve this result, your website still needs to be visible on search engines . That's why I'm revealing all the technical SEO optimization factors you need on this e-commerce platform . To begin this guide to natural referencing on Magento 2 , here are some facts you need to know.
Magento in a few words
Magento is a US-based online store platform. Its interface is available in French and it offers 24/7 support. Founded in 2008, the company quickly conquered the e-commerce world, becoming one of the market leaders. This was further confirmed in 2018 when Adobe acquired the company for $1.68 billion. In June 2020, they permanently replaced the initial version (Magento 1) with a much more robust variant (Magento 2). Today, the platform hosts more than 250,000 e-commerce sites, with an estimated turnover of $1.5 billion.
To achieve this exceptional result, it's clear that the services provided fully meet the criteria for online sales, particularly in terms of SEO. However, many adjustments are necessary to be visible on the web and obtain excellent organic traffic. Indeed, the default settings are not all optimized for SEO. To take advantage of all the possibilities available on Magento, you will need to make certain adjustments manually and download additional plugins. This is what I will reveal to you without further ado in this guide to SEO on Magento 2.
How to set up Magento 2 in French
SEO Optimization on Magento 2: Don't Forget the Basics!
SEO is directly linked to three inseparable elements: technique, content, and popularity. Only by working on the three pillars of SEO can you position your website well on search engine results pages ( SERPs ). That's why, before describing the best SEO optimization methods for Magento, I wanted to remind you of the basics.
Technical
SEO techniques allow indexing robots to quickly crawl and understand your website. In addition, it promotes the user experience ( UX ) by speeding up and simplifying navigation. Since an online store is often complex and very extensive, it is essential not to miss these adjustments from your launch. I will therefore give you all the tips to optimize your site on Magento.
Content
Quality content is essential to satisfy your reader and help search engines understand your topic. Expand your semantic scope and focus on query intent. However, an e-commerce site generally offers a large number of similar products. And remember, duplicate content doesn't please Google! That's why I'll explain below how to avoid a penalty by specifying a canonical URL on Magento.
Popularity
Your website's reputation is the third key factor in good organic SEO. To be recognized for your true worth, you need recommendations from specialists who are themselves renowned for their quality. Therefore, work on your popularity by establishing a netlinking strategy (links pointing to your online business). Since this is an external ( off -site) SEO optimization, there are no specific requirements related to Magento.
The 3 pillars of SEO for a good natural referencing strategy
Simplify crawling and indexing
To improve your organic ranking, you need to help search engine robots quickly analyze your website. At the same time, you improve your visitors' experience and navigation, which is essential in SEO today. Magento allows you to optimize certain essential parameters to achieve this dual objective.
Canonical URL
To prevent duplicate content from being indexed, consider specifying a canonical URL for the homepage and CMS pages. By default, the auto-creation setting is not enabled on Magento. Here's how to enable it:
go to the catalog SEO settings in “store view”;
replace "no" with "yes " in canonical URL values.
With the Canonical Url plugin , you also have the ability to customize and manually set all your canonical URLs.
HTML Sitemap
An HTML sitemap is a useful tool to help your online store visitors navigate your site. It also makes it easier for search engine crawlers to find your most important pages. This allows you to highlight your key categories, subcategories, and products.
Magento 1 allowed the creation of HTML sitemaps by default. With Magento 2, this is now only possible with plugins such as SEO Toolkit or HTML Sitemap . Another method, only valid if you have the technical skills, is to create this file yourself.
XML Sitemap
This tool lets search engines know which pages to crawl and index. Generally, it should contain a maximum of 50,000 URLs and its size should not exceed 50 MB.
On Magento 2, you can optimize this document in your "catalog configurations", under the XML sitemap heading. Select the "store view" to include categories, products and CMS. Also modify the update settings so that it is done automatically. Remember to adapt the frequency according to your needs and choose a time of low traffic.
Once you've made these settings, you can generate your XML sitemap by going to your SEO & Search settings . At this point, you can also customize the name and path before creating your file. Once you've done this, I recommend adding your sitemap link to your robots.txt file to make it easier for indexing robots to work.
Robots.txt
The robots.txt file is a crucial indexing tool for SEO optimization of an online store or any large website. It allows you to authorize or prevent search engines from accessing certain URLs. It is therefore essential to generate and maintain such a document in order to protect yourself from a penalty related to duplicate content and to preserve your crawl budget . I recommend that you block access to the following pages in particular:
research ;
user account;
sid and phpssesid;
filters (price, colors, sizes, etc.).
Please note bahrain phone number data that in the basic settings of Magento 2, all of these pages are authorized for indexing ( allow ). You will therefore have to manually add the pages that you do not want to appear on the search engine results pages ( disallow ). At the same time, remember to also enter the noindex attribute on each of the pages concerned. These steps are essential for both your SEO and your brand image. Indeed, you risk not only wasting robots' time, but also transmitting low-quality information to your potential customers. Here are the steps to follow to configure your robots.txt in the administration settings:
go to Inventories > Settings > Configurations;
on the displayed page, tap “Design”;
Select “Search Engine Robots” and then edit the data.
When updating this file, be sure to respect the formatting. Otherwise, the information will not be taken into account by search engines.
Screenshot of a robots.txt file
Faceted navigation
Faceted navigation is useful for e-commerce site visitors because it makes it easier to access products. It's also important for SEO because it increases the number of optimized and indexable pages based on the filters used. I recommended that you force the non-indexing of filters for your product pages. However, this is a subset and no longer a simple sorting. If I take the example of the query "sport shoes," it would then be a search such as "brand name."